abstract: Alfalfa is a major feed crop widely cultivated in the United States. It is the fourth largest crop in acreage in the US after corn, soybean, and all types of wheat. As of 2003, about 48% of alfalfa was produced in the western US states where alfalfa ranks first, second, or third in crop acreage. Considering that the western US is historically water-scarce and alfalfa is a water-intensive crop, it creates a concern about exacerbating the current water crisis in the US west. Furthermore, the recent increased export of alfalfa from the western US states to China and the United Arab Emirates has fueled the debate over the virtual water content embedded in the crop. In this study, I analyzed changes of cropland systems under the three basic scenarios, using a stylized model with a combination of dynamical, hydrological, and economic elements. The three scenarios are 1) international demands for alfalfa continue to grow (or at least to stay high), 2) deficit irrigation is widely imposed in the dry region, and 3) long-term droughts persist or intensify reducing precipitation. The results of this study sheds light on how distribution of crop areas responds to climatic, economic, and institutional conditions. First, international markets, albeit small compared to domestic markets, provide economic opportunities to increase alfalfa acreage in the dry region. Second, potential water savings from mid-summer deficit irrigation can be used to expand alfalfa production in the dry region. Third, as water becomes scarce, farmers more quickly switch to crops that make more economic use of the limited water. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Sustainability 2015

Desenvolvimento sustentável tem se tornado um dos termos mais populares na agenda de empresas e governos. Do relatório Brundtland de 1987 a 15a Conferências das Nações Unidas sobre Mudanças Climáticas – COP15 – em 2009, o tema tem recebido crescente atenção uma vez que os atuais padrões de consumo e produção são claramente insustentáveis dos pontos de vista social, econômico e ambiental. O presente trabalho revisou os principais conceitos, métodos e ferramentas ligados à inclusão de valores ecologicamente sustentáveis no projeto de produtos e em seu ciclo de vida. Além disso, buscou, com a aplicação de um método cada vez mais aceito na literatura, denominado Pegada Hídrica, investigar o impacto do setor de biocombustíveis sobre os recursos hídricos no Brasil. Ao estimar o conteúdo de água virtual presente nas fases agrícola e industrial do ciclo de vida dos biocombustíveis analisados, o presente trabalho também buscou contribuir com a produção de dados que poderão ser utilizados na construção de inventários de produtos que fazem uso de etanol e biodiesel em seu próprio ciclo de vida. Outra contribuição possível visa à economia de recursos naturais, já que dados quantitativos são necessários para permitir comparações e eventuais tomadas de decisão cujo objetivo resulta, em última análise, no aumento de produtividade e redução de custos para as empresas. / Sustainable development has become one of the most popular terms in the agenda of corporations and governments. From 1987’s Brundtland report to the 15th United Nations Conference on Climate Change – COP15 – in 2009, the topic has received increasing attention since the current productin and consumption patterns are clearly unsustainable from the social, economic and environmental point of views. This paper reviewed the main concepts, methods and tools for the inclusion of ecologically sustainable values in design and product life cycle. In addition, we attempted, by applying a method increasingly accepted in literature, called Water Footprint, to investigate the impact of the biofuels sector on water resources in Brazil. In estimating the virtual water content present in agricultural and industrial phases of the life cycle analysis of biofuels, this study also aimed to contribute to the production of data that could be used to build inventories of products that use ethanol and biodiesel in their own life cycle. Another possible contribution is aimed at saving natural resources, since quantitative data are needed to allow comparisons and possible decision-making aimed ultimately in increased productivity and reduced costs for businesses.

Responsible water management in an era of globalised supply chains needs to consider both local and regional water balances and international trade. In this paper, we assess the water footprints of total final demand in the EU-27 at a very detailed product level and spatial scale - an important step towards informed water policy. We apply the multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model EXIOBASE, including water data, to track the distribution of water use along product supply chains within and across countries. This enables the first spatially-explicit MRIO analysis of water embodied in Europe's external trade for almost 11,000 watersheds world-wide, tracing indirect ("virtual") water consumption in one country back to those watersheds where the water was actually extracted. We show that the EU-27 indirectly imports large quantities of blue and green water via international trade of products, most notably processed crop products, and these imports far exceed the water used from domestic sources. The Indus, Danube and Mississippi watersheds are the largest individual contributors to the EU-27's final water consumption, which causes large environmental impacts due to water scarcity in both the Indus and Mississippi watersheds. We conclude by sketching out policy options to ensure that sustainable water management within and outside European borders is not compromised by European consumption.

Various adaptation and mitigation strategies have been explored to cope with changes in the climate. Estimating these strategies impacts on the local economy is one of the growing and pressing issues for the management of natural resources. This thesis consists of three parts and aims to contribute to regional economic studies by analyzing: (1) the economic impact of solar energy facilities, (2) the level of virtual water flow and the effectiveness of scenarios to mitigate water resource shortage, and (3) the impact of climate change on agriculture through a Ricardian approach weighted by stream flow connectivity. As an increasingly adopted renewable energy resource, solar power has a high potential for carbon emission reduction and economic development. In the first essay the impacts on jobs, income, and economic output of a new solar power plant are calculated in an input-output framework. The contribution is twofold. First, we compare the multipliers generated by the construction and operation/maintenance of a plant located in California with those that would pertain had it been built in Arizona. Second, we point out the differences in the results obtained with the popular IMPLAN software from those obtained with the solar photovoltaic model of JEDI. The second essay focuses on water use in Arizona. As much as 73% of the state's scarce water is used by a single sector: crop production. Because 79% of Arizona's crop production is consumed outside the state, this means that, 67% of the water available in the state is being exported to the rest of the country and abroad. This should be of major concern for a state expected to see its population grow and its climate get drier. Using input-output techniques we explore three scenarios aimed at saving 19% of the water available. This figure is based on the results of the first of the scenarios that explores how much can be saved through improving the efficiency of the current irrigation system. The second scenario shows that equivalent water savings could be reached by a twenty-seven-fold increase in the price of water. The third scenario shows that a 19.5% reduction in crop exports could conserve an equal amount of water. The model results suggest that the least costly solution is a more efficient irrigation system, while export reduction is the second best choice. The third and final essay offers an extension of the well-known Ricardian model of agrarian economic rent. In spite of its popularity among studies of the impact of climate change on agriculture, there has been few attempts to examine the role of interregional spillovers in this framework. We remedy this gap by focusing on the spatial externalities of surface water flow used for irrigation purposes and demonstrate that farmland value—the usual dependent variable used in the Ricardian framework—is a function of the climate variables experienced locally and in upstream locations. This novel approach is tested empirically on a spatial panel model estimated across the counties of the Southwest USA for every five-year period from 1997 to 2012. This region is one of the driest in the country, hence its agriculture relies heavily on irrigation with the preponderance of the sources being surface water transported over long distances. The results highlight the significant role of irrigation spillovers and indicate that the actual impact of climate change on agriculture and subsequent adaptation policies can no longer overlook the streamflow network.

This dissertation consists of three essays on different aspects of water management. The first essay focuses on the sustainability of freshwater use by introducing the notion that altruistic parents do bequeath economic assets for their offspring. Constructing a two-period, over-lapping generational model, an optimal ratio of consumption and pollution for old and young generations in each period is determined. Optimal levels of water consumption and pollution change according to different parameters, such as, altruistic degree, natural recharge rate, and population growth. The second essay concerns water sharing between countries in the case of trans-boundary river basins. The paper recognizes that side payments fail to forge water-sharing agreement among the international community and that downstream countries have weak bargaining power. An interconnected game approach is developed by linking the water allocation issue with other non-water issues such as trade or border security problems, creating symmetry between countries in bargaining power. An interconnected game forces two countries to at least partially cooperate under some circumstances. The third essay introduces the concept of virtual water (VW) into a traditional international trade model in order to estimate water savings for a water scarce country. A two country, two products and two factors trade model is developed, which includes not only consumers and producer’s surplus, but also environmental externality of water use. The model shows that VW trade saves water and increases global and local welfare. This study should help policy makers to design appropriate subsidy or tax policy to promote water savings especially in water scarce countries.

No description available.

The water footprint is a multidimensional indicator which was created to quantify the total volume of freshwater used for various purposes. With the water footprint it is possible to determine the volume and type of water used directly and indirectly during the production in a given place and time. The data related to the water footprints of products are utilized in the evaluation of the international trade with goods, too (a concept of virtual water used for the analysis of water stress export out of the country which imports water-intensive products). The greatest amount of water is used globally in the agriculture, so the agricultural products are the ones with the highest water footprints. The focus of concern is the water footprint of an agriculture production and the aim of this work is to bring the first results regarding the water footprint of the cow milk in the Czech Republic and also to evaluate a methodology of its calculation. Two dairy farms dealing with a market production of milk from the Liberec region were chosen for the research. The farm Rváčov is oriented to an intensive milk production and on the other hand the farm Bzí is a system with mixed elements of extensive and intensive characters of the dairy production. For the comparison of the milk production effectiveness we have...

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Water is a major input used directly and indirectly by the different sectors of the economy to produce goods and services. The use of this resource as a productive input is known as virtual water. This concept was developed by Allan (1993) and it refers to the water that is embedded or embodied in the production of agricultural commodities and industrial goods. The aim of this study is to apply an environmental input-output model to analyze water use in the Brazilian economy as well as to quantify the virtual water content in Brazil's imports and exports. The results indicate that Agriculture is an important key-sector, since, through the analysis of the matrix of coefficients transaction, it is possible to verify that it does mostly push the indirect water consumption of the majority of sectors. As for international trade of water resources, it comes out that Brazil is a net exporter of virtual water and that the largest share of exports is carried out by Food and Beverages sector and by Agriculture. Results suggest that Brazil is a virtual water net exporter, and most of the exports are made by Food and Beverage industries and Agriculture. These results reinforce the need to consider environmental costs that are inherent to trade goods in the use of water resources and a better management of water under scarcity conditions. / A água é um insumo importantíssimo utilizado direta e indiretamente pelos diferentes setores da economia na produção de bens e serviços. Ao uso desse recurso como insumo produtivo dá-se o nome de água virtual. Esse conceito foi desenvolvido por Allan (1993) e se refere a água que é embutida ou incorporada na produção de commodities agropecuárias e produtos industriais. O objetivo desse estudo é aplicar o método insumo-produto ambiental para analisar o uso da água na economia brasileira e mensurar o conteúdo de água virtual importado e exportado pelo Brasil. Os resultados indicam que a Agricultura é um importante setor-chave, já que, através da análise da matriz de coeficientes de transação, é possível verificar que o consumo indireto de água da maior parte dos setores é impulsionado principalmente pela agricultura. Em relação ao comércio internacional de recursos hídricos, tem-se que o Brasil é um exportador líquido de água virtual, sendo a maioria das exportações realizadas pelos setores de Alimentos e Bebidas e da Agricultura. Esses resultados reforçam a necessidade de considerar os custos ambientais intrínsecos ao comércio de bens intensivos no uso de recursos hídricos e o melhor gerenciamento da água em condições de escassez.

This research brings an approach of the quantifyingof virtual water built-in food in different forms of production and trading. This theme suggests new fronts of analysis in the researchof water resources,bringing the water footprint as well as a new tool for this purpose. Environmental education and sustainability enter this bulge showing the changes which presented a series of data highlighting this issue. The main objective of this research was to analyze the quantity of water that is attached to these products. These products are gotten from long distances and are marketed in Erechim and with the distance of transportation , the environment is impacted with a large water use. Otherside we tried to know about these products obtained with a lesser proximity of their trading, just to balance this calculation of the virtual water . This comparison brought information that the same product can be more sustainable, and less aggressive to the environment, to the point of just having in their method of production and trading a the differential form of production with minor uses of pesticides and marketing, being nearer the production , which it is consuming a heightened amount of virtual water. This water is virtual, however, is precisely calculated to give a warning to society that consumes a product that ends up detaching of sustainability. It is concluded that food produced in long distances consuming a large amount of virtual water and just because they are large quantities transported in long distances, they suffer amortization obtained through calculations. These amounts of virtual water embedded in major life cycle of the products surveyed and ownership of water resources in the forms of production generate major concerns. / A presente pesquisa traz uma aproximação da quantificação de água virtual embutida nos alimentos em diferentes formas de produção e comercialização. Tema que sugere novas frentes de análise em termos de pesquisa para os recursos hídricos, trazendo a pegada hídrica também como uma nova ferramenta para esta finalidade. A educação ambiental e a sustentabilidade entram neste bojo com a indicação de mudanças onde apresentadas uma série de dados realçando esta questão. O objetivo principal desta pesquisa foi analisar uma quantidade de água que esta anexada nos produtos. Sendo produtos obtidos de longas distâncias e comercializados em Erechim, que, com a distância do transporte, acabam impactando o meio ambiente com uma grande utilização de água. A contra ponto buscou-se tomar conhecimento de produtos obtidos com uma proximidade menor de sua comercialização, justamente para balizar este cálculo da água virtual. Esta comparação trouxe informações de que um mesmo produto pode ser mais sustentável, sendo menos agressivo ao meio ambiente, ao ponto de apenas ter em seu método de produção e de comercialização um diferencial pela forma de produção com menores usos de agrotóxicos e na comercialização sendo mais próxima da produção, onde acaba não consumindo uma exacerbada quantidade de água virtual. Esta água é virtual, porém, é calculada justamente para dar um alerta para a sociedade que consome um produto que acaba se desvinculando da sustentabilidade. Conclui-se que os alimentos produzidos em longas distâncias agregam uma grande quantidade de água virtual e justamente por serem grandes quantidades transportadas á grandes distâncias que sofre uma amortização obtida através dos cálculos. Estas quantidades de água virtual são de grandes embutidas no ciclo de vida dos produtos pesquisados e a apropriação dos recursos hídricos com as formas de produção geram grandes preocupações.

The concepts of virtual water and water footprint are being increasingly used as management tools and relevant indicators to the appropriation of water resources consumption. Virtual water is the amount of fresh water incorporated into the production process of any goods or services consumed by people. The objective of this research is to measure the balance of trade of virtual water, from 1997 to 2012, in the state of CearÃ. For this purpose, were selected the main agricultural commodities of export tariffs and import of commodities; well as was used to water footprint methodology,which includes direct and indirect consumption of water, at all locations in which occur the productive chains of goods and services. As a result of quantification, for the case study of CearÃ, which is located in the semiarid Northeast Brazil and faces problems of water shortages, imports exceed exports in 44,629,598.5 million liters of virtual water. Cearà is, therefore, a net importer of virtual water. The United States is the main destination of Cearà exports of virtual water (12,188,074.6 million liters). The Argentina is the principal source of imports of Cearà of virtual water (42,219,370.0 million liters). Considering the total volume traded of virtual water, in liters, the main export products (cashews) and import (wheat) present, in liters per kilogram, patterns of total water footprints, respectively, 39,549.9 and 4,411.2. With the purpose of reducing the water footprint, of Cearà products, may be employed in the agricultural sector for measures:increasing productivity green footprint (rainwater) in rainfed agriculture; add the total production in rainfed agriculture; increase productivity of blue footprint (surface or underground water) on irrigated agriculture; decrease the relationship between blue and green water footprints; reduce the footprint gray (polluted water), through the reduction of the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. So that consumers are made aware, with respect to the products they consume, it may be useful to put information about the water footprint on the labels of the goods. / Os conceitos de Ãgua virtual e pegada hÃdrica estÃo sendo, cada vez mais, usados como relevantes ferramentas de gestÃo e indicadores de apropriaÃÃo de consumo de recursos hÃdricos. A Ãgua virtual à a quantidade de Ãgua doce incorporada ao processo produtivo de quaisquer bens ou serviÃos consumidos pelas pessoas. O objetivo desta pesquisa à mensurar o saldo da balanÃa comercial de Ãgua virtual, de 1997 a 2012, do estado do CearÃ. Para esse fim, foram selecionados os principais produtos bÃsicos agrÃcolas das pautas de exportaÃÃo e importaÃÃo de commodities; bem como foi utilizada a metodologia da pegada hÃdrica, que contempla os consumos direto e indireto de Ãgua, em todos os locais em que ocorrem as cadeias produtivas dos bens e serviÃos. Como resultado da quantificaÃÃo, para o estudo de caso do CearÃ, que està localizado no semiÃrido da RegiÃo Nordeste do Brasil e enfrenta problemas de escassez hÃdrica, as importaÃÃes superam as exportaÃÃes em 44.629.598,5 milhÃes de litros de Ãgua virtual. O Cearà Ã, portanto, importador lÃquido de Ãgua virtual. Os Estados Unidos sÃo o principal destino das exportaÃÃes cearenses de Ãgua virtual (12.188.074,6 milhÃes de litros). A Argentina à a principal origem das importaÃÃes cearenses de Ãgua virtual (42.219.370,0 milhÃes de litros). Considerando-se o volume total comercializado de Ãgua virtual, em litros, os principais produtos de exportaÃÃo (castanha de caju) e importaÃÃo (trigo) apresentam, em litros por quilograma, padrÃes de pegadas hÃdricas totais de, respectivamente, 39.549,9 e 4.411,2. Com a finalidade de reduzir a pegada hÃdrica, dos produtos cearenses, podem ser empregadas medidas no setor agrÃcola para: aumentar a produtividade da pegada verde (Ãgua da chuva) na agricultura de sequeiro; acrescer a produÃÃo total na agricultura de sequeiro; aumentar a produtividade da pegada azul (Ãgua superficial ou subterrÃnea) na agricultura irrigada; diminuir a relaÃÃo entre as pegadas hÃdricas azul e verde; reduzir a pegada cinza (Ãgua poluÃda), por meio da diminuiÃÃo do uso de fertilizantes e pesticidas artificiais. Para que os consumidores sejam conscientizados, com relaÃÃo aos produtos que consomem, pode ser Ãtil colocar informaÃÃes sobre a pegada hÃdrica nos rÃtulos das mercadorias.